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Pakistans Spy Agency Is Tied to Attack on U.S. Embassy
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and JANE PERLEZ
Published: September 22, 2011
WASHINGTON The nations top military official said Thursday that Pakistans spy agency played a direct role in supporting the insurgents who carried out the deadly attack on the American Embassy in Kabul last week. It was the most serious charge that the United States has leveled against Pakistan in the decade that America has been at war in Afghanistan.
Enlarge This Image
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, left, and Adm. Mike Mullen testified Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
euters
Adm. Mike Mullen said evidence showed that Pakistan's spy agency was behind the June attack on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel.
In comments that were the first to directly link the spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, with an assault on the United States, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went further than any other American official in blaming the ISI for undermining the American effort in Afghanistan. His remarks were certain to further fray Americas shaky relationship with Pakistan, a nominal ally.
The United States has long said that Pakistans intelligence agency supports the Haqqani network, based in Pakistans tribal areas, as a way to extend Pakistani influence in Afghanistan. But Admiral Mullen made clear that he believed that the support extended to increasingly high-profile attacks in Afghanistan aimed directly at the United States.
These included a truck bombing at a NATO outpost south of Kabul on Sept. 10, which killed at least five people and wounded 77 coalition soldiers one of the worst tolls for foreign troops in a single attack in the war as well as the embassy assault that killed 16 Afghan police officers and civilians.
With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy, Admiral Mullen said in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. We also have credible evidence that they were behind the June 28th attack against the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations. In short, he said, the Haqqani network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence agency. His remarks were part of a deliberate effort by American officials to ratchet up pressure on Pakistan and perhaps pave the way for more American drone strikes or even cross-border raids into Pakistan to root out insurgents from their havens. American military officials refused to discuss what steps they were prepared to take, although Admiral Mullens statement made clear that taking on the Haqqanis had become an urgent priority.
On Thursday, Rehman Malik, Pakistans interior minister, rejected accusations by the United States of ISI involvement in the attacks in Afghanistan. If you say that it is ISI involved in that attack, I categorically deny it, he said in an interview with Reuters. We have no such policy to attack or aid attack through Pakistani forces or through any Pakistani assistance. He also said his government would not allow an American operation aimed at the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, a remote part of Pakistans lawless tribal region.
Mr. Malik seemed to indicate that American officials had threatened on Tuesday in meetings in Washington with the head of the ISI, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, that American troops were prepared to cross the border from Afghanistan to attack Haqqani militants. An American official would say only that David H. Petraeus, the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told General Pasha that the C.I.A. would continue its campaign of drone strikes against the Haqqanis in Pakistan and pursue them in Afghanistan.
The Pakistan nation will not allow the boots on our ground, never, Mr. Malik said in an interview with Reuters. Our government is already cooperating with the U.S. but they also must respect our sovereignty.
A senior American official said Thursday that no decisions had been made on actions that the Obama administration might take against the Haqqanis.
American covert raids into Pakistan are rare only two, including the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May, have become public but some American intelligence officials argue that more aggressive ground raids in Pakistan are necessary.
The United States gives Pakistan more than $2 billion in security assistance annually, although this summer the Obama administration decided to suspend or in some cases cancel about a third of that aid this year. Altogether, about $800 million in military aid and equipment could be affected.
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---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 PM ----------
The suspension was intended to chasten Pakistan for expelling American military trainers this year and to press its army to fight militants more effectively. The decision was made after the Bin Laden raid in Pakistan, where the leader of Al Qaeda had been living comfortably near a top military academy.
Enlarge This Image
Faisal Mahmood/Reuters
Interior Minister Rehman Malik of Pakistan rejected American accusations.
Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog »
Related
U.S. Embassy and NATO Headquarters Attacked in Kabul (September 14, 2011)
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Admiral Mullen is to retire at the end of this month, and coming from him the statements carried exceptional weight. For years he has been the American military official leading the effort to improve cooperation with the Pakistanis. But relations have reached a nadir since the Bin Laden raid. Pakistani officials were angered that they had not been told of the raid in advance, and questions remain about whether Pakistani intelligence was sheltering Bin Laden.
Although American military officials believe that the ISI is in many cases directing the Haqqani network to attack United States forces in Afghanistan, they did not go so far as to say on Thursday that the ISI specifically directed the assault on the American Embassy. American military officials did not describe the kind of support they believe the ISI gave the Haqqani network for the embassy attack, and also offered no evidence for their claim. In July 2008, the United States was able to determine that the ISI was behind the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul based on intercepted communications of ISI officers.
Admiral Mullen testified alongside Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who told the committee that the attack on the embassy and the assassination this week of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of Afghanistans High Peace Council and a former Afghan president, were a sign of weakness in the insurgency. He cast the attacks as signs that the Taliban had shifted to high-profile targets in an effort to disrupt the progress that the American military had made.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack on Mr. Rabbani, which has dealt a potentially devastating blow to efforts to negotiate a peace with the Taliban.
In his remarks to the committee, Admiral Mullen voiced a stern warning to Pakistani officials, who he said were undermining their own interests as well as American interests in the region.
They may believe that by using these proxies, they are hedging their bets or redressing what they feel is an imbalance in regional power, he said. But in reality, they have already lost that bet. By exporting violence, theyve eroded their internal security and their position in the region. They have undermined their international credibility and threatened their economic well-being.
He also said he did not think he had wasted his time by putting so much effort into improving ties with Pakistans government.
Ive done this because I believe that a flawed and difficult relationship is better than no relationship at all, he said. Some may argue Ive wasted my time, that Pakistan is no closer to us than before, and may now have drifted even further away. I disagree. Military cooperation again is warming.
« Previous Page 1 2
Elisabeth Bumiller reported from Washington, and Jane Perlez from Islamabad, Pakistan. Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting from Washington.
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and JANE PERLEZ
Published: September 22, 2011
WASHINGTON The nations top military official said Thursday that Pakistans spy agency played a direct role in supporting the insurgents who carried out the deadly attack on the American Embassy in Kabul last week. It was the most serious charge that the United States has leveled against Pakistan in the decade that America has been at war in Afghanistan.
Enlarge This Image
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, left, and Adm. Mike Mullen testified Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
euters
Adm. Mike Mullen said evidence showed that Pakistan's spy agency was behind the June attack on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel.
In comments that were the first to directly link the spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, with an assault on the United States, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went further than any other American official in blaming the ISI for undermining the American effort in Afghanistan. His remarks were certain to further fray Americas shaky relationship with Pakistan, a nominal ally.
The United States has long said that Pakistans intelligence agency supports the Haqqani network, based in Pakistans tribal areas, as a way to extend Pakistani influence in Afghanistan. But Admiral Mullen made clear that he believed that the support extended to increasingly high-profile attacks in Afghanistan aimed directly at the United States.
These included a truck bombing at a NATO outpost south of Kabul on Sept. 10, which killed at least five people and wounded 77 coalition soldiers one of the worst tolls for foreign troops in a single attack in the war as well as the embassy assault that killed 16 Afghan police officers and civilians.
With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy, Admiral Mullen said in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. We also have credible evidence that they were behind the June 28th attack against the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations. In short, he said, the Haqqani network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence agency. His remarks were part of a deliberate effort by American officials to ratchet up pressure on Pakistan and perhaps pave the way for more American drone strikes or even cross-border raids into Pakistan to root out insurgents from their havens. American military officials refused to discuss what steps they were prepared to take, although Admiral Mullens statement made clear that taking on the Haqqanis had become an urgent priority.
On Thursday, Rehman Malik, Pakistans interior minister, rejected accusations by the United States of ISI involvement in the attacks in Afghanistan. If you say that it is ISI involved in that attack, I categorically deny it, he said in an interview with Reuters. We have no such policy to attack or aid attack through Pakistani forces or through any Pakistani assistance. He also said his government would not allow an American operation aimed at the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, a remote part of Pakistans lawless tribal region.
Mr. Malik seemed to indicate that American officials had threatened on Tuesday in meetings in Washington with the head of the ISI, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, that American troops were prepared to cross the border from Afghanistan to attack Haqqani militants. An American official would say only that David H. Petraeus, the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told General Pasha that the C.I.A. would continue its campaign of drone strikes against the Haqqanis in Pakistan and pursue them in Afghanistan.
The Pakistan nation will not allow the boots on our ground, never, Mr. Malik said in an interview with Reuters. Our government is already cooperating with the U.S. but they also must respect our sovereignty.
A senior American official said Thursday that no decisions had been made on actions that the Obama administration might take against the Haqqanis.
American covert raids into Pakistan are rare only two, including the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May, have become public but some American intelligence officials argue that more aggressive ground raids in Pakistan are necessary.
The United States gives Pakistan more than $2 billion in security assistance annually, although this summer the Obama administration decided to suspend or in some cases cancel about a third of that aid this year. Altogether, about $800 million in military aid and equipment could be affected.
1 2
---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 PM ----------
The suspension was intended to chasten Pakistan for expelling American military trainers this year and to press its army to fight militants more effectively. The decision was made after the Bin Laden raid in Pakistan, where the leader of Al Qaeda had been living comfortably near a top military academy.
Enlarge This Image
Faisal Mahmood/Reuters
Interior Minister Rehman Malik of Pakistan rejected American accusations.
Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog »
Related
U.S. Embassy and NATO Headquarters Attacked in Kabul (September 14, 2011)
Readers Comments
Share your thoughts.
Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (315) »
Admiral Mullen is to retire at the end of this month, and coming from him the statements carried exceptional weight. For years he has been the American military official leading the effort to improve cooperation with the Pakistanis. But relations have reached a nadir since the Bin Laden raid. Pakistani officials were angered that they had not been told of the raid in advance, and questions remain about whether Pakistani intelligence was sheltering Bin Laden.
Although American military officials believe that the ISI is in many cases directing the Haqqani network to attack United States forces in Afghanistan, they did not go so far as to say on Thursday that the ISI specifically directed the assault on the American Embassy. American military officials did not describe the kind of support they believe the ISI gave the Haqqani network for the embassy attack, and also offered no evidence for their claim. In July 2008, the United States was able to determine that the ISI was behind the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul based on intercepted communications of ISI officers.
Admiral Mullen testified alongside Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who told the committee that the attack on the embassy and the assassination this week of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of Afghanistans High Peace Council and a former Afghan president, were a sign of weakness in the insurgency. He cast the attacks as signs that the Taliban had shifted to high-profile targets in an effort to disrupt the progress that the American military had made.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack on Mr. Rabbani, which has dealt a potentially devastating blow to efforts to negotiate a peace with the Taliban.
In his remarks to the committee, Admiral Mullen voiced a stern warning to Pakistani officials, who he said were undermining their own interests as well as American interests in the region.
They may believe that by using these proxies, they are hedging their bets or redressing what they feel is an imbalance in regional power, he said. But in reality, they have already lost that bet. By exporting violence, theyve eroded their internal security and their position in the region. They have undermined their international credibility and threatened their economic well-being.
He also said he did not think he had wasted his time by putting so much effort into improving ties with Pakistans government.
Ive done this because I believe that a flawed and difficult relationship is better than no relationship at all, he said. Some may argue Ive wasted my time, that Pakistan is no closer to us than before, and may now have drifted even further away. I disagree. Military cooperation again is warming.
« Previous Page 1 2
Elisabeth Bumiller reported from Washington, and Jane Perlez from Islamabad, Pakistan. Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting from Washington.
